Tonks' Revelation
by StoryloverBL
Summary: A few weeks after joining the Order, Tonks is starting to tire of doing endless surveillance and is angry to be given a ton of paperwork to do from her boss; but an unexpected discovery at work puts everything in perspective for her, and helps her to understand a friend in the Order much better. Sirius finds out that he's missed something and is not happy.


**Tonks' Revelation **

Tonks maintained that it was not her fault that she woke up late.

After being a part of the Order of the Phoenix for a full two weeks, she had found out why not everybody wanted to join up. Because when she'd been approached with an offer of an active role in fighting Voldemort, she'd been thrilled. But after her fourth surveillance job in three days, she was beginning to tire of hiding in isolated areas and watching for seemingly nothing

Then Mad- Eye had pulled her off her normal duties to stake out an abandoned shack, which might have belonged to the family of Death Eaters, a very long time ago and she'd had to stand bolt upright against a tree for eight hours straight. She'd got in at 2am, which was why it was not her fault that she was late for work.

Except that she couldn't tell her boss that she'd been moonlighting (not just literally) to fight You Know Who, whom the Ministry insisted didn't exist. So, to her boss, she had no good reason for having turned up at the office at almost ten o'clock, two hours late. It hadn't gone well. Scrimpgour had lost his temper, hurled a stack of cold cases at her and taken her off field work until she 'sorted out her attitude'.

Ouch. That was harsh.

Kingsley gave her a sympathetic grimace when she left Scrimpgour's office, with a mountain of paperwork and flushed cheeks that even her morphing couldn't clear up. Tonks couldn't count the number of reasons she'd been sent into see Scrimpgour on both hands, but shabby time- keeping hadn't ever been an issue. Until now.

Without her usual gusto, Tonks dropped the papers on her desk, grabbed a fresh bottle of ink and got to work. She pulled the first sheet off the top of the pile and glared at it, before figuring that there was a problem. She wasn't even writing _about _the cold cases, it looked like she was being used as a secretary! The post- it note at the top said WATER-DAMAGED FILES NEED REWRITING. And indeed, the files looked like they'd taken a cold shower, ink had run and smudged, some was almost unreadable.

_Didn't they think to cast a spell to protect files from water damage? _Tonks pondered angrily. _She was a trained Auror, not a PA!_

Still, she didn't want to go back to her boss, lest she make her position worse. At least she was still currently employed. No spell she tried had any effect on the damaged files and, after twenty minutes of desperate casting and trying out every spell she could imagine, Tonks gave up and got out the parchment.

Halfway through the day, after Tonks had been forced to cast two numbing charms on her wrist she realised that she'd gone from copying out unsolved burglaries to something more sinister. Werewolf attacks. They were cold cases because the perpetrators were rarely identified. From her experience there were always suspicions, but such things could rarely be proved. Her eyes snagged on a name.

Remus.

The second name was completely blurred. When she checked the date at the top, however her heart stopped panicking. This file was too old for it to be the Remus she knew. She was sure.

Or she sure hoped.

She continued copying out, but when she scanned further down the page for a sir name, she felt the hairs on the back of her arms stand on end.

_Master Lupin, aged four years, was attacked during the night in his bedroom. _

A curl of sympathy sat in her stomach as she did her mental calculations. Age four. The Remus she knew (and had noted as a gentleman) couldn't be any older than thirty- six or so, so how long ago would he have been four? When her estimated date fitted the date on the report almost perfectly, she couldn't stop a tear sliding down her cheek.

Poor Remus.

Then everything she knew about the polite, shy man started to drop into place. His shyness, the scars on his face, even his damn nickname- Moony! It had been staring her in the face all along. But she hadn't noticed because she'd been too busy getting on with, and occasionally moaning about her own life. Something her dad said to her, years ago sprung to the forefront of her mind as her quill stilled.

_I once cried because I had no shoes, until I met a man who had no feet. _

It was an old proverb and it meant that you shouldn't complain too much about what you don't have because there was always someone with less. Ted had told it to her when she'd been about eleven and had been moping because most of her so called family happened to be dark witches and wizards, wanted to kill her and currently resided in Azkaban. He'd smiled at her and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear and said "Chin up, ducky. You've still got your mum and me."

And it was true. Today she'd been feeling hard done to because she'd been deprived of a good night's sleep and been put on desk work. Tonks felt like she was getting smaller and smaller… Because Remus must be deprived of sleep with every full moon and, as she remembered back to the way he slaved over the maps in the evenings, she realised he'd probably be pleased with desk work.

That made Tonks feel really small. Like she didn't know a thing.

Tonks got on with the rest of the paperwork without another complaint. Amazingly she finished the entire pile by the end of the day. She sent it off to Scrimpgour and left quietly. The feeling of being humbled stuck with her as she floo'd to her flat and then apparated to outside of the Order base with the intention of checking in with Mad- Eye for an evening of surveillance, without a single complaint.

As she opened the door and moved swiftly forward, out of view from the street, the old door jammed and Tonks barrelled into it. Her face squished against the dilapidated wood for a second, before she lost her footing.

Down Tonks fell, landing on her backside. Her head was flicked backward with the power and hit the old panelling with a huge SMACK! Tonks groaned.

"What is it with this house? I swear it's…" Tonks trailed off as she realised that she was doing exactly what she said she wouldn't. _No more bellyaching. _Tonks told herself firmly. She shut her eyes for a second as she heard people move towards her from the kitchen.

"Don't worry, it's not a Death Eater attack." Sirius said teasingly. "It's just Tonks' arrival."

"Yeah, you know me!" Tonks joked right back, even though her head did really hurt. Her cheeks flushed a little when she saw Remus, looking at her with concern in his soft green eyes. "I've got to have a big entrance… preferably with some sort of fall involved."

Sirius offered her his hand, Remus offered her a hand and the two men pulled her up. Sirius glanced at the curtained portrait. "You did better this time, though Tonksie, didn't even wake my mother."

"I did." She said cheerfully, brushing dust off her robes. "But I still say, that even without my aunt, this house is out to get me. I swear that the door stopped on purpose." She joked warmly, patting Sirius on the arm and then did the same to Remus. She averted her eyes from Remus' face so they didn't linger for any longer than necessary. Now that she knew where those scars had come from, she didn't want to embarrass him by staring. She'd probably upset the poor man and then feel even worse.

As she walked through to the kitchen and Sirius stomped off muttering something about talking to Kreacher, it seemed that Remus was lagging behind. Tonks bit her lip and worried that she'd done something wrong. Had her aversion seemed odd? His face was flushed red when she saw him and his eyes were so down-cast that she felt like she had to say something. Anything. But, 'Remus I know that you're a werewolf, sorry I didn't want to upset you by staring' seemed clumsy, even for her.

Instead, she moved towards him and he shrunk away from her slightly. _What was he afraid of?_ Tonks moved closer, invading his personal space slightly and hugged him tightly. Remus remained tense for a full half minute as she rubbed his back and breathed in his scent, of books and chocolate. He was all sinewy muscle and his hands rested lightly on her back. Finally he relaxed and hugged her fully and she smiled into his shoulder.

Very, very quietly; almost warily he asked "You know?"

In his ear, Tonks replied, equally softly "Yes, if there's anything you need, let me know."

Remus shivered slightly. "That tickles." He whispered back, his breath whispered over her skin. Tonks noticed that he'd not mentioned her offer.

"I know it does," she hissed teasingly into his ear and he chuckled. His hand came up to itch his ear so Tonks moved over to his other ear and whispered in that one. He chuckled again and that made her giggle as well.

Heavy footsteps came down the stairs and they sprung apart like embarrassed teenagers. Sirius stared at them accusingly.

"What have I missed?" He demanded roughly, taking in their flushed cheeks and giggly smiles. Tonks let her eyes settle on his warm green eyes and smiled wider.

Sirius stared at them some more. "What did I miss?" He repeated. "You both look far too happy! It's okay for you. You're not stuck in your mother's house!"


End file.
